A Quick Thought on Health Care
It is often said that one of the "problems" with American health care is that we spend far more on health care as a percent of GDP than other nations. But why is this necessarily a problem?
The US is the wealthiest nation on Earth, top to bottom. At every level of society, except perhaps for a few recent immigrants, people in this country are wealthier than their peers in a similar income quintile in another country, even Europe. So it is not surprising that basic needs, like food and housing, might represent a smaller percentage of GDP here than in other nations. Despite all the efforts of McDonalds and the Country Buffet to change things, there is only so much food we can consume, only so much living space we need, only so many cars we can drive at one time.
As these basics fall as a percentage of our income, something must gain. It could be savings, but it could also be other spending where incremental outlays return percieved incremental benefits. And so, why not health care? What could possibly be more important than extension of our lives and/or the improvement of the quality of our living? If we as a nation choose to spend our extra wealth on such things, is this really a bug, or a feature?
Update: Yes, I know, the problem is that we aren't really always able to make this decision as individuals optimizing our own tradeoffs. We are too often forced to accept someone else's tradeoff. Unfortunately, this problem is only going to get worse under any plan Congress is currently considering. Someone else who is not you and doesn't even know you will decide how much a procedure is worth for you.
